FAQ’s

Please click on a link for answers to your questions.

What is housing support?
Housing support is a low level, short term support service lasting for up to 2 years where a support worker meets with a client for between 1 - 5 hours a week to work towards agreed goals. The support is aimed at reducing the risk of people becoming homeless and supporting people who are homeless to settle into or set up a new home.
What does a support worker do?
Your support worker will ask you what help you need and will then agree a plan with you to help you meet your goals in staying in your home or settling into or setting up a new home. This is called a support plan. Your support worker will agree a convenient time to meet with you regularly, usually in your own home or in a mutually agreed place close to your home.
What sort of goals will be in the support plan?
The goals will be agreed with you depending upon your individual needs. For example, if you find it difficult to manage your money, you may set goals to look at your weekly budget and agree how much you can afford to spend on different bills and items each week. Other goals may include helping you to link into other agencies who can help you, such as the Citizens Advice Bureau for money advice and debt management and ensuring you are receiving benefits you are entitled to. If you are homeless due to a relationship breakdown you may want to set goals about finding a new home, support during court appearances, accessing training and employment or help in agreeing child maintenance. Our support workers are led by you, what your needs are and what support you want from us to enable you to live independently in your home so that eventually you don't need our support any more.
Will I have a choice of support worker?
Where possible we will try to allocate you with a support worker who has experience in the goals you are trying to achieve, so if you have substance misuse problems which are putting you at risk of homelessness we will try to allocate you with a worker who has expertise in this area. If you are a woman escaping domestic violence you will be allocated a female support worker who has experience of domestic violence issues.
How much does it cost to get this support?
It costs you nothing to receive this support. HomeStay will not charge you for our service. The service is funded by Norfolk Supporting People which receives money from the Department of Communities and Local Government and this pays for the support workers and the time we spend with you.
What happens to the information I tell you?
You will keep your support plan and your support worker will update it with you each time you meet with them. Your support worker will also take brief notes which will be entered onto our computer system to show what they have done and when your goals have been met. This is because we have to show the work we are doing and how we have helped you to stay in your home so that we can continue to receive money to pay for the service. All information that you give us will be kept confidential within the service. Your support worker will not talk to anyone else outside of HomeStay about the support you are receiving without your permission. All our computers are password protected and the information on them is encrypted so if the computer was lost or stolen, no one else would be able to read the information about you contained on it.

If you have questions about the service that have not been answered here please contact us and we will be happy to tell you more about HomeStay